Screw holding screw driver



Nov. 27, 1951 R. E. GEARHART SCREW HOLDING SCREW DRIVER Filed Nov. l2, 1947 v wllllllrl Patented Nov. 27, 1951 UNITED `S'Iii'flFES PATENT OFFICE iioLD'iNG 'SCREW -DR'IVER lRoy A(."Jreajrlytrt,Kansas City, Mo., assigner yto 'Herbert-H. Twente, Independence, Mo. Appinsfon November 12, 1194-7, sedative. "785,314

Y TCI-aims. 1

This invention rel'ates 'to chand tools and par` ticularly 'to improvements in screw holders `of the type disclosed in my copending applications, Serial Nos. 669,31-2fi'10w abandoned, and 689,691, issued November 211, A1950 "as YPate'rit No, 2,530,763.

The primary aim of the present invention is to provide a screw holder constructed 'to iiirmly grip a screw and wherein is V'einb'odieli simple mechanism for releasing 'the screw.

-It is va vfurther object 'f this invention to .provide -a versatile 'tool which can beused to grip the common slotted screw head, lthe Phillips 'type screw, or, with slight mod'ications a 'nut provided with a 'screw"driver slot.

A lfurtlier object of the invention -is to .provide la simple tool nof vthe above Ycharacter which vcan beA manufactured at lowcost. ,Y

Other objects of the invention will become apparent during the course bf the following specicatiom reference being -hafd to th'e acc'om- Figure 3 a yTsiiillar sectional View fShOWi'ng lthe tool moved to "s'creweholdii'g position.

Fig. `4 Vis la cross-section taken Lon the line 1V=IV ofrFig. 3.

Fig. `5 is la cross-section taken fon the line Ve-V 'of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 6 'is a r'friaigir'ie'nta'ry elevational view lof a modified form vof #gripping membe'r.

--Referring in more detail to the drawings lthe numeral I0 designates a hollow shank preferably ii-attened'at each end asat I2 and I4 respectively to form 'guides for a .pair of gripping members -I 6 larranged in side-by-side 'relation in theshan'k. The outer ends of the gripping members are :provided with screw-engaging blade portions AI8 and the opposite ends of said members are bent laterally to form projections 20 for riding in a pair of opposed and angularly disposed slots 2-2 of a sleeve 24 whichfis firmly mounted on shank I0 and in effect comprises a part of said shank. One end of sleeve 24 extends beyond the inner end of shank I0 a distance vsubstantially equal to the depth of the slots l'22.

"Thus when -t-he lgripping members I6 'are lin- Fig. 2, and downward pressure is exerted on shank I0, the lateral ends 20 each ride upwardly 2 in a slot 22 but because of the angular relation of the slots in sleeve 24, these `members I-B are caused to partially lrotate as shown in Fig. 3, thereby gripping the screw head securely.

To further facilitate operation of the tool, a hollow handle 3 is provided having a .relatively large bore 32 for snugly .receiving one end of sleeve 24. yA smallercontinuation 34 -of the -bore terminates in a further reduced opening `36 to form a shoulder 38. Seated within :portion ,"34 of the bore is the head -40 of a release pin 42, the head vresting against Vthe lateral ends .20 of the .gripping members and being retained -in that position Aby 'a lightspring 44. This spring .is coiled over the pin 42 yand its opposite ends respectively bear against a shoulder46 of therelease .pin and thefshoulder 3g.

From the foregoing it will be lapparent, that a tool of extremely simple design yhas been provided which will securely :grip lscrews though the width of the screw slots vary greatly. The :length `and angle of the lslots 22 determine the amount of rotative movement of the gripping members I6. YIt has -been found in practice that this rotative movement of `each blade should be Ynot less than forty-five degrees. Since these blades move in opposite directions as `shown in Fig. 4, they tend to hold a screw lin direct alignment with the vlongitudinal Vaxis Vof the holder. This ris an important advantage vsince it facilitates the starting of a screw Yinto -a threaded opening. The fact that the blades I8 are vduplicates makes lpossible the adaptation of this tool for use in yholding the Phillips type screw. 4For the latter .purpose however, -it is preferable lto use `blades of less width.

In ymany instances, as Vvfor example in switch Iboxes and meters, binding 4nuts are -often used having "screw driver slots. Because of interfering wires, such nuts are extremely difficult lto reach for application or removal. KBy! modifying the gripping blades as shown at "50 in Fig. 6, the lpresent tool can be used for `holding such nuts very'securely.

The tension of spring 44 should be only sufficient to normally hold the gripping members at their outermost limit of travel as shown lin Fig. -2. When the grippingmernbers have been forced to fscreweengaging position as illustrated in Fig. 3, the twisting force setup in 'thegripping members will retain them in this position until `the screw has 'either ybeen forcibly withdrawn from the blades vor the lreleasepin 4-2 vhas been ,pushed inwardly to return 'the gripping members vto .inoperaitive conditioninvention can be made in almost limitless lengths and sizes and while it is possible that modifications other than those shown might be made Without departing from the spirit of this invention, it is desired to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus 4described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A screw holder comprising a hollow shank, said shank being open at one end and having a handle portion on its opposite end; a pair of gripping members in side-by-side relation to each other in the shank and mounted for sliding and partial rotative movement in the shank,A said gripping members each having a blade portion on one end extending through the open end of the shank for entering a screw slot, said blade portions being spaced substantially the same distance from the open end ofthe shank; and interengaging means on said gripping members and the shank to effect partial relative rotation of the members for gripping a screw in response to sliding movement of said members in said shank.

2. A screw holder comprising a hollow shank, said shank being open at one end and having a handle portion on its opposite end; a pair of gripping members in side-by-side relation to each other in the shank and mounted for sliding and' partial rotative movement in the shank, said gripping members each'having a blade portion on one end extending through the open end of the shank for entering a screw slot, said blade portions being spaced substantially the same distance from* gripping members in side-by-side relation to each` other in said shank and mounted for sliding and partial rotative movement in the shank, said gripping members each having a blade portion on one end extending through the open end of the shank for entering a screw slot, said blade portions be-` ing spaced substantially the same distance from the open end of the shank; and interengaging means on said gripping members and the shank to effect partial relative rotation of the members for gripping a screw in response to sliding movement of said members in said shank, said interenlgaging means comprising a pair of opposed and angularly disposed slots in the shank and a lateral projection on each of the gripping members, each slot being engaged by the projection of one of the two gripping members.

4. A screw holder comprising an open-ended hollow shank; a sleeve on said shank having one end extending beyond said shank, said end having a pair of opposed and angularly disposedV slots therein; a pair of gripping members in sideby-side relation to each other in said shank and mounted for sliding and partial rotative movement in the shank, said gripping members having their opposite ends projecting beyond thev ends of the shank; a lateral projection on one end of each of the gripping members, each of said slots being engaged by the projection of one of the two gripping members to effect partial Y relative rotative movement of the gripping mem-.- j

bers in response to sliding movement of said members in the shank; and a screw-engaging blade portion on the opposite end of each of the gripping members, said blade portions being substantially coextensive.

5. A screw holder comprising a hollow shank having guide portions on each end; a pair of gripping members extending through said shank for sliding and partial rotative movement in said guide portions; a sleeve on said shank having one end extending beyond the shank. said end having a pair of opposed and angularly disposed slots therein; a lateral projection on one end of each of the gripping members, each of said slots being Vengaged by the Vprojection of one of the two gripping members to effect partial relative rotative movement of the gripping members in response to sliding movement of said members in the shank; and a screw-engaging blade portion on the opposite end of each of the gripping members, said blade portions being substantially coextensive.

6. A screw holder comprising a hollow shank, said shank being open at one Aend and having a handle portion on its opposite end; a pair of gripping members in side-by-side relation to each other in the shank and mounted for sliding and partial rotative movement in the shank, ,said gripping members each having a blade portion on one end extending through the open end of the shank for entering a screw slot, said blade portions being spaced substantially the same distance from the open end of the shank; interengaging means on said gripping members and the shank to eiect partial relative rotation of the members in one direction for gripping a screw in response to sliding movement of said members in said shank; and a pin in the handle portion for moving said members in the opposite direction to release the screw.

7. A screw holder comprising an open-ended hollow shank; a sleeve on said shank having one end extending beyond said shank, said end having apair of opposed and angularly disposed slots therein; a pair of gripping members in parallel relationvto each other in said shank and mounted for sliding and partial rotative movev ment in the shank, said gripping members having their opposite ends projecting beyond the ends of the shank; a lateral projection on one end of each of the gripping members, each of said slots being engaged by the projection of one of the two, gripping members to effect partial relative rotative movement of the gripping members in response to sliding movement of said members in the shank; a screw-engaging blade portion on the opposite end of each ofthe gripping members, said blade portions being substantially coextensive; and a spring-loaded pin bearing against said projections for normally urging the projections toward the :base of said slot to hold said blade portions in aligned relation with each other.

' ROY E. GEARHART..

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patenti' UNITED STATES PATENTS Hagness July 13, 1943 

